Tv & Radio

December 30, 2007|By Tom Jicha

Strike out: The year apparently will end with Hollywood shut down by a Writers Guild of America strike. TV was the immediate victim, since films have lengthy lead times. The main issue was writers' demands for a slice of cyber revenues. Late-night talk shows went to reruns (though many will resume production Wednesday), followed shortly thereafter by scripted series. If the strike lasts as long as the five-month walkout in 1988, the rest of this season and the 2008 fall season could be reduced to unscripted reality and reruns.

Dear John letter: Utterly failing to fill the gap left by The Sopranos' departure, the mystical surfing drama John From Cincinnati was killed after only one season, a rarity for HBO. But basic cable continued to make creative strides with buzz-worthy debuts such as AMC's Mad Men and FX's Damages and The Riches - unlike the broadcast networks, whose fall lineup proved conspicuously light on watercooler crazes. Charming rookies such as Pushing Daisies, Dirty Sexy Money and Chuck have failed to attain even moderate hit status, although their immediate post-strike futures have been assured. Meanwhile, last year's sensation, Ugly Betty, is in a bit of a sophomore ratings slump and widely praised 30 Rock continues to pull Nielsens that would get many series canceled.

Falling Idol : Ratings aside, American Idol didn't have its best year. Would-be saboteurs kept hair-raising entrant Sanjaya Malakar afloat until his continued survival became an annoying distraction; then viewers eliminated deserving winner Melinda Doolittle, leaving fresh-faced Jordin Sparks, a moderate talent with a radiant smile, to emerge as the sixth American Idol. Meanwhile, Idol also-ran Jennifer Hudson picked up an Oscar for Dreamgirls, and Fantasia, American Idol No. 3, kick-started a career stuck in neutral by reinventing herself on the Broadway stage, packing houses with her brilliant turn in The Color Purple.

From TV to PC: As viewers failed to flock to their TV screens, the networks tried another tack: putting TV shows and other content online at Hulu and other sites. As the Associated Press put it, an age-old question - "What's on TV?" - seemed more suitably expressed as "What's TV on?" Meanwhile the viral video phenomenon continued, from the serendipitous (a Miss Teen USA contestant's rambling response to a softball question, University of Florida student Andrew Meyer shouting "Don't Tase me, bro!" as campus cops bring him down), to the professional (Saturday Night Live alum Will Ferrell's The Landlord, featuring a foul-mouthed tyke).

The time is right: Career game-show host, Happy Gilmore scene stealer and perhaps the unlikeliest hero to college students nationwide, Bob Barker ended a 35-year run as host of The Price Is Right in June. The 85-year-old Barker was replaced in the fall by Drew Carey.

Don't stop . . .: The most anticipated ending of a TV series since The Fugitive devolved into a colossal letdown. As fans of The Sopranos sat on the edge of their seats wondering if sinister strangers were about to blow away Tony and perhaps the rest of his family in a New Jersey diner, the screen went to black. Viewers all over the nation assumed their cable had gone out. But among those praising HBO's unfinished symphony as a brilliant stroke by creator David Chase were Emmy voters, who honored the episode as the year's best.

Dance till you drop: Dancing With the Stars had an eventful fall season thanks to Marie Osmond, who fainted on stage, then had to miss a show when her father died. A Larry King interview generated more publicity when the customary marshmallow-tosser ambushed her with a question about her 16-year-old son, Michael, entering a drug rehab facility. Sympathy votes carried Osmond only to third place in the Dancing competition.